Colonies are columnar, or thin horizontal plates, or mixtures of these. Corallites are circular, plocoid, usually of irregular sizes. Those near plate margins may be aligned in parallel rows. Colonies are usually part encrusting, part massive and often have a foliaceous perimeter. They may be large, but are more usually less than 30 cm across. They are distinguished by having markedly plocoid corallites which reach 2 to 3 mm diameter and 1 to 2 mm tall above the corallum surface.

(2003) IUCN Red list of threatened species Available at - http://www.iucnredlist.org/

Indian Wild Life Protection Act, 1972

AIMS Data Centre Available at - http://data.aims.gov.au/

Venkataraman, K (2005) Coral reef ecosystem and the diversity of reef building corals in India Proceedings of the National Seminar on Reef Ecosystem Remediation SDMRI Special Research Publication No.9 10-24 Available at - http://www.sdmri.org/reports/proceedings%202005%20-%20sdmri.pdf

Pillai, CSG (1971) The distribution of shallow-water stony corals at Minicoy atoll in the Indian ocean with a check-list of species Atoll Research Bulletin CMFRI 141 1-12 Available at - http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/6047/1/1.pdf

Pillai, CSG (1971) Composition of the coral fauna of the southeastern coast of India and the Laccadives Symposium of the zoological society of London 28 301-327 Available at - http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/6215/1/601.pdf

Pillai, CSG and Jasmine, S (1989) The coral fauna of Lakshadweep Marine living resources of the union territory of Lakshadweep: An indicative survey with suggestions for development Bulletin of Central Marine Research Institute CMFRI 43 179-195 Available at - http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/8213/1/Bulletin_No_43.pdf